FX released the second teaser trailer for Season 5 of The Bear, but over on The Bill Simmons Podcast, the discussion is focused on how the show's binge-release format continues to stifle episodic momentum. Host Chris Ryan admitted he was "bummed out that the last season of The Bear-" because the dump-all-at-once model prevents viewers from digesting the episodes carefully.
Chris Ryan elaborated on how a weekly schedule would have elevated the show's best hours into major cultural moments, imagining a world where viewers could collectively react to the season's star-studded guest appearances. "I would love for everybody to be like, 'Oh, it's Bear night. It's Wednesday night,' and it's like holy shit, Jamie Lee Curtis and John Bernthal are in this episode, like, and Bob Odenkirk? Like-" Ryan lamented, contrasting that shared experience with the flood of prepackaged recap articles that immediately follow a binge drop.
Looking ahead, host Bill Simmons suggested that the series is ultimately a stepping stone for its creative engine to graduate to the big screen. "And I actually might have more upside on the movie side. Your brain's gonna shift toward the movie making, I think. Like even somebody like the guy in The Bear, right?" Simmons remarked, pointing to how peak television's biggest names are already shifting their focus toward cinema.